Product Description

Coco is a Shanghai cafe waitress, full of enthusiasm for life. She falls in love with a young man, Tian Tian, for whom she feels tenderness and love but who is reclusive and impotent. Despite her parents' objections, she moves in with him. But then she meets Mark, a dashing businessman.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #654779 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-28
• Original language: Mandarin Chinese
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 279 pages

Sunday Times, June 3, 2001
"Banned by Beijing, Wei Hui's tales of sin in Shanghai show the cracks appearing in communist China"

From the Publisher
Further information about 'Shanghai Baby'
First championed by the Chinese state media as a rising star of her generation, Wei Hui is now dubbed 'decadent, debauched and a slave of foreign culture. 'Shanghai Baby' was banned by the Chinese authorities in April 2000 and 40, 000 copies were publicly burned.

'Shanghai Baby' deals honestly with areas that are conventionally taboo, especially in its portrayal of the new woman in contemporary China. The novel arrives at a time when China's urban youth challenges her historic and traditional mores and very sense of self. The gap between the old and the new is typified by the wealthier, better-educated and mature one-child-family generation that is now impatient for recognition, empowerment and self expression.

Here is a beautifully written novel that champions female sexuality, dares to transgress convention and describes China on the brink of her own social and sexual revolution.

There has be early press interest in the translation of 'Shanghai Baby'in to English. The Times ran a piece in October 2000 describing it as: "a steamy Chinese novel in the Western style about life in contemporary China". In April 2001 The Economist wrote: "A semi-autobiographical novel, which explores the sexual awakening of a beautiful 26-year-old writer in China's livelist port city...a runaway bestseller despite ...its banning by the authorities."

Customer Reviews

A story of love, sex and self-discovery.
Wei Hui (pronounced Way-Way) is the daughter of an army officer and spent three years of her childhood living in an army-occupied temple from which monks had been expelled during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. She studied literature at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Wei is now dubbed 'decadent, debauched and a slave of foreign culture.' Chinese authorities banned this novel, "Shanghai Baby," in April 2000 for its sensual nature and irreverent style. Forty thousand copies of "Shanghai Baby" were publicly burned in the government's attempts to ban this young author's rise to fame. This novel is the semi-autobiographical story of Coco, a café waitress, who is full of enthusiasm and impatience for life. She meets a young man, Tian Tian, for whom she feels tenderness and love, but he is reclusive, impotent and an increasing user of drugs. Despite parental objections, Coco moves in with him, leaves her job and throws herself into writing.

Shortly afterwards she meets Mark, a married Westerner. The two are uncontrollable attracted and begin a highly charged, physical affair. Torn between her two lovers, and tormented by her deceit, her unfinished novel, and the conflicting feelings involved in both love and betrayal, Coco begins to find out who she really is.

This novel also focuses on China's present day social and sexual revolution. New voices are emerging that challenge China's current cultural generation gaps, those that divide young adults born in the 1970s and the older generation, a gap that has never been, as wide, as today. This is a beautifully written novel, by a young author from the forbidden culture.

Hmmm, vaguely interesting in parts but not very authentic.
The plot could well be based on Wei Hui's own personal experiences, but to be honest the plot, right from the outset seems really strained. Frustrated female writer, supported by useless yet loving boyfriend eventually ruins own life for a while before heading out into the deep unknown.

I bought this book mostly out of interest in China. I wanted to see what was so controversial that the book would be banned. I wanted to read a portrait of modern Shanghai before I visited the city myself. I wanted to read an interesting book on contemporary Chinese life in a modern Chinese city. I didn't really get any of that.

I could see why the book was controversial. In many places it is simply pornographic. And this pornography is not well written. It seems to suggest that every bourgeoise Shanghainese woman is a slut and most of the bourgeois Shanghainese men are layabouts with nothing better to do than spend their money on pot. Wei Hui spends so much time talking about Coco-Channel that anything interesting about Shanghai is left behind.

Does this book deal with some interesting issues? Yep. It grapples with a woman dealing with an impotent yet loving boyfriend, drug-use, affairs aplenty and relationships. But as I said before, it reads like Airport trash.

Don't Believe the Hype!
I thought I had missed something! This book left me with no real feelings about the characters. I felt void of sympathy (or anything else)for Coco. I thought the story was disjointed in places, predictable in others. Not as enjoyable as I hoped it would be.